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Category Archives for Member’s Blog
Employment law does not prevent performance management
If I had a penny for every time a manager told me that employment law prevented them from managing their staff, I would be so rich I wouldn’t need to work.
Most of the problems we deal with on our hotline stem from a failure to properly manage performance. Whether it is ‘bullying’ or problems in managing maternity leave, selection for redundancy, even half the discrimination problems we get – they all stem from a failure to:
• Design jobs people can succeed in
• Recruit people with the right skills
• Set achievable goals within that job
• Adequately resource for success
• Monitor performance and feedback
• Adjust course where needed
When we talk to employees within teams we find them saying – management won’t touch x person because they are protected by discrimination law, management don’t tackle poor performance early enough or clearly enough.
The managers say employment law stops them doing this.
Employment law is not that tricky if you know what you are doing. Some organisations are cursed with the ‘employee from hell’ but most are not. You don’t have to wait until you can’t stand it any more and then try to shoe horn ‘employment law’ into a last minute dash towards dismissal (with the replacement waiting in the wings). You can integrate the basics into a simple performance management system.
If you are struggling with manage your team (or an individual) and thinking “if employment law didn’t exist I’d…………….” now is the perfect time to start working on that problem.
Employment law is not going to stop you managing poor performance in your business if you know what you are doing. Join us on this FREE KoffeeKlatch seminar to talk about how to make it all work for you.
Annabel Kaye is Managing Director of Irenicon Ltd, a specialist employment law consultancy. Tel: 08452 303050 Fax: 08452 303060 Website : www.irenicon.co.uk. You can follow Annabel on twitter – http://twitter.com/AnnabelKaye
Posted by on 21/01/2011 14:37:29
Santa is coming to town
We are organising the annual Christmas party, and a Mr Klaus has agreed to be our entertainer. After last year’s party (congratulations on the baby, Miss Smith) we thought it would be a good idea to lay down some ground rules so we don’t get into trouble with any of this equality stuff.
1. Don’t tell Santa he’s fat. We don’t know if this is from over eating, or caused by some kind of medical problem. But we don’t want him to raise a disability harassment claim against us – so just don’t mention it at all.
2. If you know anyone qualified to do a risk assessment on the chimney before he climbs down it, please contact HR – we don’t seem to have a checklist for this.
3. Don’t talk about Santa’s age. We know he is over our usual retirement age for employees, but you must not make any remarks which might get us into trouble with an age discrimination claim.
4. Don’t talk about how much he is getting paid. We don’t want an equal pay claim from Mrs Santa or the Elves.
5. Try not to mention pensions. Santa is already complaining about his mean pension plan, and the number of centuries he has had to work. We don’t want him finding out about the Executive Pension plan and its perks.
6. Don’t let any women sit on his knee – even if they seem to be enjoying it. We don’t want any sexual harassment claims this year. We had enough trouble last year when our ex-Finance Director claimed that he was Santa and made the marketing assistants sit on his knee – that cost us a fortune.
7. Don’t let any men sit on his knee – we can’t have then men enjoying something the women aren’t allowed to do.
8. Don’t make any remarks about the men who want to sit on Santa’s knee. Everyone is entitled to their own orientation, and a preference for men from the North is not to be joked about.
9. There are rumours (unfounded, of course) that Santa likes to sit children on his knee. Such behaviour may bring our business into disrepute, and if you see any attempt at such behaviour you must report it immediately. The fact that you like to behave childishly does not give you the right to sit on Santa’s knee either.
10. You may notice that some of the Elves are green. You must not make any remark about their colour, or where they come from. We don’t want any race discrimination claims.
11. Please don’t ask Santa what his religion is or what this has to do with Christmas. We had enough of religious discrimination complaints last year when that girl from finance claimed she had a right to eat as much as she liked because her religion was food. But even so, to suggest that it was “only a joke” to make her eat the nativity donkey was going a bit far.
12. Don’t insist on Santa eating a mince pie and having a glass of sherry. We don’t know whether Santa’s beliefs allow him to consume alcohol. And maybe the mince pies haven’t been stored at a safe temperature. Much better not to offer him anything at all while he is on our premises.
13. Some of you may not have read our new policy in bribery and gifts. You must not accept any gifts from Santa under any circumstances. This is an office party, and Santa is acting in his official capacity, so the acceptance of gifts will be deemed a gross misconduct offence.
14. While we are talking about gross misconduct, Santa owns the copyright in his image and you may not take any photographs or him or his elves or your colleagues without a written release form, signed in advance in triplicate. Whoever posted that photo on the internet of our Sales Director without his trousers is not going to get away with it again. We are monitoring all emails and social networks just to be sure.
Remember, folks, the purpose of the office party is to relax and have a good time! But we will be keeping our employment law advisors on emergency standby just in case.
Seasons greetings from HR.
Annabel Kaye is Managing Director of Irenicon Ltd, a specialist employment law consultancy. Tel: 08452 303050 Fax: 08452 303060 Website : www.irenicon.co.uk. You can follow Annabel on twitter – http://twitter.com/AnnabelKaye
Posted by on 16/12/2010 17:10:00
Free Redundancy Download
It’s not easy finding out you are ‘at risk’ of redundancy. All those legal things that seemed to be somebody else’s problems suddenly are all about you – and you can’t remember half the things you ought to.
Download our free guide to redundancy. Based on our 30 years experience it can help you start working out what you can challenge, what you can’t and what money you might expect to get.
Simple just download it from:
Posted by on 01/12/2010 12:58:12
Snow stopped play?
Many individuals struggle bravely in to work when it snows, while others stay at home. Some work from home, whilst others have no option but to take care of their children as schools close. Some workplaces close due to bad weather, and others remain open, if not fully staffed.
Who is entitled to be paid and for what?
The UK has a remarkably flexible labour market, and the answer depends on what type of contract you have got with your staff, and whether you keep the workplace open. There is no general right for employees who don’t turn up for work to be paid, and if you open your workplace and the do not turn up, you may not be obliged to pay. Many employers do pay more than they are required to, but it is important to know when you are choosing to pay more, and when you have to pay.
Workplace remained open (hourly paid workers)
If the workplace remains open as usual, and the employees fails to make it in to work due to travel difficulties, they are not automatically entitled to be paid for their absence. If they turn up late and they decide to go home early, they are entitled to be paid for the hours they actually work.
If you send the employee home early, this has the same effect as closing the workplace for part of the day (see below).
Employees can ask you to allow them to take the day(s) as paid leave. You are not obliged to authorise paid leave retrospectively but if you do so, make sure the holiday records are kept properly up to date. You cannot decide to make this a day’s leave without the employee’s consent.
Employees who have to remain home to make arrangements for their children when the schools shut are entitled to unpaid dependants’ leave. They are only entitled to be paid for the time off if you have a contract or a policy that says they are.
Workplace shut
You are only entitled to withhold pay for a lay-off period (when the workplace is closed) if your contract with the employee gives you that right. Check your contracts carefully.
If your contracts do provide for ‘unpaid layoffs’, employees are still entitled to guaranteed pay at the appropriate rate for the first five days lay off in any 3 month period. For these purposes a day’s lay off is a day when less than 50% of ordinary work was provided. Employees are entitled to 50% of their normal basic pay subject to a maximum of £21.50 per day.
Working at home
Many employers have working systems that mean employees could work from home – either as part of their normal working from home routine, or on an emergency basis. These individuals are working and should be paid for the time they were working.
Salaried staff
There is an historic tradition in the UK (fading fast) that distinguishes between staff on annual or monthly salaries, and those on an hourly rate – the old ‘white collar-blue collar’ divide. Traditionally salaried staff are not paid by the hour, do not receive overtime when they work more hours, nor receive a deduction when they work less.
These staff are viewed as being paid for service, rather than for the particular work performed. This group of individuals is generally entitled to pay unless the contract provides otherwise. You should check your contracts carefully. This applies even if no work is actually performed or where the employee is prevented from working due to factors beyond their control, as long as the employee remains ready and willing to serve the employer. Ready and willing would normally mean making an effort to get to work where it is safe to do so. Locally based staff who could have made it in would not be automatically entitled to pay if they did not turn up.
Many organisations no longer feel comfortable about having a two tier contract system, and increasingly have one single status contract that applies to all. So it’s possible your hourly paid staff may be in the same contractual position as salaried staff. A lot depends on what your contracts say.
Annual hours and flexi-hours contracts
Check the terms of your contracts – it may be that time not worked does not count for payment, and missed work will have to be performed at another time.
Annabel Kaye is Managing Director of Irenicon Ltd, a specialist employment law consultancy. Tel: 08452 303050 Fax: 08452 303060 Website : www.irenicon.co.uk. You can follow Annabel on twitter – http://twitter.com/AnnabelKaye
Posted by on 25/11/2010 15:56:32
Why Ovacome?
Many moons ago, in 1230 TWC HO we were badgered by people wanting us to support their charity, not the charities themselves, just their supporters. “Badgered” is probably being unkind, but that’s how it felt.
We concluded that the reality is that there are many worthy charities; everyone only has so many pennies in their pockets, supporting charities personal to them – so we stood fast, and stood back, from making any hasty decisions.
But we did want to make a difference, so did some research and as an organisation supporting business women, there was one charity which stood out to us – Ovacome.
Ovacome is a small charity with head offices in London, supporting those affected by ovarian cancer. We watched the Ovacome web site for a while and arranged to meet the CEO Louise Bayne. Louise was delightful and told us that she had recently recovered from ovarian cancer. We decided that 1230 TWC would do all it could to raise awareness of Ovacome and its invaluable work.
The first 1230 TWC Ovacome fund-raising event was held at The Savoy Ballroom, supported by Frank Usher Fashions with a glitzy cat walk; again supported by Frank Usher Fashions, in the second and third years we held fabulous events at the Gherkin and Canary Wharf. Our fund-raising events are never without a little blip! Like the year “James Bond” was unwell and we had to find a substitute with 10 minutes to spare and the following year, the models had arrived but the fabulous outfits were stuck in a traffic jam! This year was no exception, but less dramatic and cute!
This year – 1230 High Speed Success on 24 September was held at the Champagne Bar, St Pancras Grand and supported by business women and men. Actress and Ovacome Patron Jenny Agutter’s little dog “Tufty” came too as a surprise guest! She was travelling with Jenny to her home for the weekend.
An added twist to this sparkling event in aid of Ovacome, was Jenny Agutter’s interview with FMWF’s own Marketing Blogger entrepreneurial Chartered Marketer Dee Blick who shared with us the highs and lows of her business career.
Louise, told us “Our BEAT Ovarian Cancer campaign tells every woman in the UK what to look out for; women can beat the disease if they listen to their bodies, spot subtle but distinct changes and get help at an early stage.” “At the same time Ovacome’s BEAT campaign will raise the profile of the disease with GPs, who often dismiss its symptoms as irritable bowel syndrome or the menopause. “This is not surprising when you consider that the average GP will come across just one case of ovarian cancer in 5 years.”
Louise is an extremely sensitive caring person with great vision for the wonderful work delivered by Ovacome. It’s an absolute pleasure and joy to know her and to support Ovacome’s invaluable work in this way. We are delighted that our raffle this year raised over £400.
1230 TWC is also blessed with generous supporters; our Members, Rooks Rider With Women in Mind, Matt Duggan of ‘Working Magic’ who with the ‘Opera on the Run’ duo kept us highly entertained! Neal’s Yard hand massages, and wonderful raffle prizes, from hotel stays to portraits, haute couture items, travel on Eurostar to name just a few.
At the end of the evening we were exhausted but elated that the event was such a huge success.
“Thank you for a fabulous afternoon on Friday – very entertaining and I met some terrific women. 1230 TWC must feel very proud! Well done on a very successful event, in an extremely worthwhile cause” said Margaret Duggan 1230 TWC Member.
So with just time to catch our breaths, we’re onto planning next year’s event. Would you like to work with us on this? Get in touch on events@1230.co.uk 020 8650 8015 www.1230.co.uk
Further details about Ovacome can be found at www.ovacome.org.uk
Posted by on 22/11/2010 01:38:47
Tattoos and Taboos
I am currently working with a group of 19 beauty pageants that have tattoos that will need covering for their show. Because it is not acceptable for beauty pageants to be adorned in tattoos for the two piece, these will need to be covered. It is amazing where you will find these tattoos, and just how many can one body take? The good thing is I will be able to cover these tattoos, and they will look like fabulous beauty dolls airbrushed to perfection!!
Posted by on 22/11/2010 13:55:58
Britains Top Model
So excited to be selling jewellery at the Britains Top Model show from 22nd – 24th October.
Posted by on 12/10/2010 21:55:42
What have I done
Im training for a demo boxing match at Selsdon park Hotel on December 19th for Dynamo Boxing.Something to tick off the Bucket List i suppose.!!!
Posted by on 12/10/2010 21:57:56
Dare I mention Christmas….?
Gulp! It’ll be here before we know it! I’m busy taking out the pop up boutique to ladies’ homes who are being super organised and either shopping for gifts or treating themselves (you could wrap yourself up as a present in something gorgeous!).
The wardrobe is now bursting with new collections and some fabulous Hollywood Screen Siren boudoir wear to make you feel very “Greta Garbo”.
With gorgeous dressing gowns edged in ostrich feathers or chiffon ruffles (get me to a chaise longue with a gin martini!), matching chemises and a new range of silk underwear is coming soon that’s being stocked in some rather well known London stores!
BooBoo’s also working with the lovely Electra Collection jewellery which compliments our range range beautifully.
If you’d like more details, please visit our site – www.boobooburlesque.com
Posted by on 29/09/2010 14:40:28
IT’S TODAY!
What a Fabulous Friday it is today…. never mind about a dodgy colour ink cartridge (last one) and PC crashing this morning!
Today is FF because it is 1230’s annual charity event in support of Ovacome and everyone has been so generous with their time, efforts and items for the raffle.
So a huge “THANK YOU” to sponsors – Business Link in London and Irenicon, Partners – Rooks Rider, A J Morgan Consultancy and HaveMoreClients, all generous donators of raffle prizes, everyone for attending, special Guest Jenny Agutter and entrepreneurial business women Dee Blick, Searcy for their fabulous venue – the Champagne Bar, Matt Duggan for his incredible close up magic, Louise Bayne from Ovacome and our special surprise entertainers.
See you all soon!
Posted by on 24/09/2010 09:23:21